This is an idea that entered my mind. As far as I understood lithium ion batteries still need oxygen from the air to burn.
They don’t provide their own oxidizer IIRC but they do reignite when left to dry because they rapidly build up heat again. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Edit: I was wrong: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X24008739
The cathode breaks down into oxygen among other things.
Would it make sense to have a lithium ion battery inside an airtight enclosure and fill it up with nitrogen? This way the only source of oxygen is from the decomposing cathode but that should react away quickly. The fire will be much less intense than in regular air. Assuming the enclosure holds.
Is this a silly idea? Is it even worth doing?
This is incorrect.
The most common method for addressing a lithium-ion vehicle fire involves fully submerging the vehicle to allow the energy to dissipate as steam.
However, many underground parking facilities in my area are beginning to ban electric cars, as more fires start to occur, and retrofitting the necessary tanks to ensure fire safety is proving challenging.
Li-ion fire safety is a very difficult thing.